Raman Singh served in Vajpayee’s Cabinet before becoming Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh in 2003. (Source: Express Photo by Ravi Kanojia)

Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s niece, Karuna Shukla, will contest on a Congress ticket against Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh in the state assembly elections in November. Shukla has been announced as the Congress candidate from Rajnandgaon in the party’s second list of candidates. Raman Singh had served in Vajpayee’s Cabinet before becoming Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh in 2003.

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On October 18, the Congress announced its first list of 12 candidates for the first phase of the state elections. Elections to the 90-member Assembly will be held in two phases: November 12 and November 20. The first phase covers 18 seats spread across eight Naxal-affected districts — Bastar, Bijapur, Dantewada, Sukma, Kondagaon, Kanker, Narayanpur and Rajnandgaon.

The party has today announced candidates for six seats in Rajnandgaon district. The remaining 72 candidates for the second phase will be announced later. Shukla was a BJP MP before she lost from Janjgir constituency in 2009. She quit the BJP after being purportedly sidelined by the party. She later joined Congress and has been a vocal critic of Raman Singh ever since.